American Horror Story: Opening Title

I remember being pleasantly surprised when I first saw this opening title on Youtube. The reason for this is because it came out at a time when the majority of television series had creatively bankrupt opening titles. Most of them tend to just zoom in on some nondescript fonts, accompanied by an equally short background music. Of course, there were the occasional of cast portraits opening like the one that the new “Hawaii Five-0” uses. In general, however, it was pretty rare for a TV series premiering in the past few years to have full opening title with impressive design style.

The argument for this minimalist approach is that the time spent on an opening could have been spent on the story, which is a weak argument in my opinion, because most opening titles do not last longer than 1 minute. I think it’d be hard to squeeze important story information within 1 minute span. On the other hand, having a good opening credit can set the right tone for the series. And if done correctly, will make the show easier to recognize from other series in the same genre. It can also provides an indirect/viral advertising as some fans somewhere will undoubtedly upload the opening to YouTube or any other social media sites, invoking curiosity to those who have not seen the show.

The opening for season 1 was created by Kyle Cooper and his company, Prologue, which also created “Se7en” and “The Walking Dead” opening titles. This is a very effective and great-looking opening. Back then no one knew what “American Horror Story” was all about so to have this opening as a part of the advert was a great decision. To be honest, I think the opening is far better and more promising than the actual season 1 story itself ended up being. The opening promises more horror, or rather, it allows my mind to wander to some creepy and horrible places where the story could have been set.

The spookiness can be attributed to the excellent sound design. Sound designer Cesar Davilla-Irizarry and musician Charlie Clouser (formerly of Nine Inch Nails), created an original composition that they call “American Horror Story”. They mixed the composition with various ambient noises associated with the haunted house shown in the first season. This includes but not limited to the sound of dripping water, broken record player, and fire crackling. At one point, the composition elongated one of the noises to the point that it creates something that sounds abnormal and demonic-like.

The imagery presented by the opening also created a very uncomfortable and oppressive atmosphere. You can’t help but wonder “Who are these kids and babies whose portraits are shown in the opening?”, “How come there are so many of them?”, “What is that thing I saw lurking in the background holding a garden scissors? And are those pigs head inside the jars?” All in all, the combination of the visceral imagery paints an unpleasant illusion of what might have happened inside that house prior to the recent occupants. In a way, the opening makes you relieved that you don’t live there.